Depression, Osteoporosis Correlation Misreported by Junk Science Media, Ill-Informed Health Researchers

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http://www.newstarget.com/z022359.html

NewsTarget.com printable article
Originally published December 11 2007
Depression, Osteoporosis Correlation Misreported by Junk Science Media,
Ill-Informed Health Researchers
by Mike Adams

Conventional medical researchers around the world are scratching their
heads
over new research published in the Archives of Internal Medicine that
shows
a strong correlation between depression and osteoporosis. Amazingly, none
of
them apparently have the presence of mind to consider the simple, common
cause behind both conditions: Chronic vitamin D deficiency.

Actually calcium deficiency, but calcium doesn't work without enough vitamin
d.



This new research found that 17 percent of women with depression showed
thinner hip bones, while only 2 percent of non-depressed women showed the
same thinness of hip bones. The mainstream media is reporting on the study
in articles like this one at the BBC:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7109955.stm

The more idiotic media outlets are even reporting that depression causes
osteoporosis. See this article in The Hindu:
http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus...0711281321.htm

Note that the study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine makes
absolutely no causal relationship between depression and osteoporosis. It
only points out a correlation. Leaping to the conclusion that one disease
actually causes another disease is a common error of intellectually
challanged journalists who have no understanding of basic logic or the
difference between causation and correlation. The truth is that many news
reports that claim one disease "causes" another are blatantly wrong: Most
of
these correlated diseases simple have a common root cause.

Note: You can listen to my Health Ranger Report Podcast on this topic
right
now by downloading this free MP3 file:
http://www.NewsTarget.com/Podcasts/HRR009_56.MP3 (lo-fi MP3 format,
56kbps)

This one-hour recording is also available as part of a six-CD audio set
containing the first 8 Health Ranger Report audio programs, which was just
launched today: http://www.truthpublishing.com/produ...d-cat21486.htm
(hi-fi audio CD format)


The common cause behind these diseases
Depression and osteoporosis share a common cause: Chronic vitamin D
deficiency. A lack of vitamin D in your body will make you depressed. It
will also cause your bones to become brittle, leading to a diagnosis of
osteoporosis. Vitamin D, you see, is necessary for the body to
successfully
use calcium, and if you don't have sufficient levels of vitamin D in your
body, you can take all the calcium you want and you'll never boost bone
mineral density.

The vast majority of Americans (and Canadians and Brits, for that matter)
are chronically deficient in vitamin D. Estimates range anywhere from 60
percent to 75 percent of the population, depending on whom you ask and
which
geographic region you're talking about. People who live closer to the
equator (in Southern U.S. states, for example, or parts of Australia) get
more sunlight and therefore have lower rates of vitamin D deficiency.
People
who live in rainy climates where clouds block the sun most of the year
have
much higher rates of vitamin D deficiency.

Vitamin D deficiency also strongly promotes breast cancer, prostate cancer
and other cancers. And wouldn't you know it: Breast cancer rates are
lowest
in Southern U.S. states. Depression rates, at the same time, are highest
in
Seattle and similar places where clouds block out the sun.

To say that depression "causes" osteoporosis is remarkably ignorant. It's
a
mistake that a seventh-grade science student might make on a school paper,
but I would hope that adult medical research and news reporters would at
least be intelligent enough to get past this simple logic error. Saying
that
depression "causes" osteoporosis is as silly as claiming that depression
causes cancer, or that osteoporosis causes cancer. All three of these have
the same common cause.


The Flat Tire Diagnosis
Let me give you an example of how conventional medicine might report on
certain car problems. Let's say you're driving down the interstate at 75
miles per hour and all of a sudden your car suffers a tire blowout.
Certain
symptoms start to appear:

. Your car pulls to the right
. There is a strange flapping sound coming from underneath the car
. Your car suffers a reduction in fuel efficiency
. Your ride suddenly becomes bumpier

Now, if this situation were examined by the same medical researchers
looking
at this correlation between osteoporosis and depression, they would first
have names for these symptoms:

. Your car being pulled to the right would be called, "Right's Disease"
. The strange sound coming from underneath your car would be called,
"Flapping Disease"
. The reduction in fuel efficiency would be called, "Hypofuelenemia"
. The ride becoming bumpier would be called, "Comfort Deficiency Syndrome"
or CDS

Now then, these medical researchers would document that Right's Disease is
always present at the same time that you have Comfort Deficit Syndrome.
Therefore, they would conclude that Right's Disease is CAUSED by Comfort
Deficit Syndrome!

Instead, of fixing the flat tire, they would proceed to prescribe numerous
fixes to treat all the various symptoms. Right's Disease, for example,
might
be "treated" with a giant piece of duct tape that pulls the steering wheel
to the left.

Flapping Disease could be eliminated by using radiation therapy to destroy
your ear drums (so you no longer hear the flapping noises). Once you are
deaf and can no longer hear the flapping sound, you would be considered to
be in "remission."

Hypofuelenemia could be "treated" by injecting high-grade fuel additive
into
your car to make up for the loss of fuel efficiency. (The high-grade fuel
additive, of couse, would be manufactured by Big Pharma.)

Comfort Deficiency Syndrome could be treated with powerful narcotics that
take your mind off the bumpy ride. (Never mind the fact that it would also
make you a terrible driver. One-third of auto accidents today are already
caused by people on medication...)

In all this, the true underlying cause of these problems -- the flat
tire --
would be utterly ignored. Why fix the flat tire when they can make so much
money managing the "symptoms" of those diseases over many years?


Why vitamin D is never mentioned
There is a great reluctance in both conventional medicine and the
mainstream
media (which is largely funded by drug ads, after all) to admit that a
nutrient has any importance whatsoever in the prevention of disease.
Modern
medicine likes to pretend that nutrition has absolutely no role in human
health; that diseases are largely a matter of luck; and that only
expensive
pharmaceuticals (not nutrients) can prevent or treat any disease.

The idea that a nutrient like vitamin D -- available free of charge from
sunlight -- might actually prevent depression, osteoporosis and cancer all
at the same time is downright horrifying to conventional medicine. How
would
doctors, hospitals and drug companies handle the loss of tens of millions
of
revenue-generating patients if people suddenly learned the truth about
vitamin D and started preventing all three of these diseases at home,
without a prescription, and without paying any fees whatsoever?

Conventional medicine doesn't like to admit that sunlight has any healing
powers whatsoever. In fact, it goes out of its way to try to scare people
into avoiding the sun, claiming the sun actually causes cancer, and that
everybody should wear sunscreen all the time -- a product that almost
always
contains numerous chemicals that actually do promote cancer!

Conventional medical researchers are almost always funded by commercial
interests, too, meaning they're not really interested in looking for free
of
natural cures for disease. They're looking for a way to scare the public
into getting more disease "screenings," taking more pills and submitting
to
more invasive medical tests so that patients can be diagnosed and then
"treated" with high-profit prescription drugs. It's all about recruiting
patients into their profitable medical scam where diseases are never
prevented or cured but managed with a lifetime of extremely expensive
pharmaceuticals.

To tell people the truth about vitamin D would cost Big Pharma billions of
dollars in lost profits from treating all the diseases caused by vitamin D
deficiency.


The height of medical stupidity
Now here's the most hilarious part about this whole story. The researchers
involved in this study claimed that since antidepressants relieve "the
symptoms of depression," they may actually help improve bone density!

Are you getting this? Let me rephrase this:

First, the researchers found a correlation between depression and
osteoporosis.

Next, they believe that antidepressant drugs relieve the symptoms of
depression.

Therefore, in their little distorted brains, they believe that taking
antidepressant drugs may reverse osteoporosis!

It's nothing short of astonishing. Did these people actually make it
through
medical school? Did they fail logic class? How on earth did they leap to
this ridiculous conclusion? And just as importantly, how did all the
journalists working for U.S. News and World Report (and other mainstream
media sources) take this quote seriously and not even question the basic
logic assumption behind all this?

It just boggles the mind. And one reason it boggles the mind is because
the
women used in this study who were suffering from osteoporosis were, in
fact,
already taking antidepressant drugs!

Okay, so get this: The researchers somehow believe that taking
antidepressants can reverse osteoporosis even while their own research
shows
that the women suffering from the worst bone loss were already taking
antidepressants!

Geesh. Sometimes I have to just sit back and shake my head in amazement
when
I observe the idiocy in modern medical research. And then when the
mainstream media takes this garbage and reports it as fact, I have to
vigorously shake my head yet again like a 1980's heavy metal band riffing
on
a guitar solo. It's like all these people are just complete idiots. I
don't
mean that as a name-calling insult. I mean it as an accurate description
of
their lack of mental capacity. A personal really does have to be operating
at an extremely low level of intelligence to reach the conclusions
promoted
by these medical researchers. And to think: This is the junk science that
gets published in mainstream, peer-reviewed medical journals!
Incredible...

If you want to hear more of my thoughts about how incredibly stupid
medical
researchers have become today, listen to my Health Ranger Report audio
podcast: http://www.NewsTarget.com/Podcasts/HRR009_56.MP3 (lo-fi MP3
format,
56kbps)


The problems with modern medicine and the mainstream media
This reporting about the link between depression and osteoporosis brings
up
several important concerns:

1. The medical community is incapable of identifying the common
nutritional
causes behind correlated diseases, even when those causes should be
obvious.

2. The mainstream media is incapable of accurate scientific reporting on
the
nutritional causes of disease.

3. Both mainstream journalists and medical researchers remain
nutritionally
ignorant.

4. The public is being routinely misled by the mainstream media on health
issues.

Now, based on this reporting, you're going to have women suffering from
osteoporosis who run out and get on antidepressants, thinking that the
SSRI
drugs will reverse their osteoporosis.

Understand: This is exactly what Big Pharma wants to accomplish with this
news! The whole point of this exercise in junk science, lousy reporting
and
astonishing nutritional ignorance is to get more women to take more drugs.
It's really as simple as that.

In order to accomplish that, they have to get the medical researchers, the
mainstream media and members of the public to all play along and pretend
that vitamin D has nothing to do with these diseases. They also have to
get
everybody to pretend that antidepressant drugs are a treatment for
osteoporosis -- an idea that's utter nonsense and, in fact, may be the
exact
opposite of what's really true. Notice, for example, that the women in the
study showing the lowest bone density were already on antidepressant
drugs.
So why didn't the mainstream media report, "Antidepressant Drugs Cause
Osteoporosis?"

The answer, of course, is because that would hurt drug sales. So instead,
they report, "Depression Causes Osteoporosis" and somewhere in the story
they repeat the quote from the researchers claiming that taking
antidepressant drugs might actually reverse osteoporosis!


Why are there so many idiots in medicine and the media today?
Sometimes, I'm just so astonished at the lack of intelligent thought in
medicine and the media that I wonder if I've somehow been teleported to
Planet of the Idiots where stupid people run everything. When I've said
things like this in the past, some readers have complained that I'm
sounding
arrogant. So let me clarify: In no way do I mean to imply that I'm the
smartest guy in the room. I'm not some intellectual genius. This is, in
fact, my point: An intelligent high school graduate could see through the
holes in the logic of these medical researchers and mainstream news
reporters!

You don't have to be a genius to find the flaw in the logic of mainstream
media stories covering health topics. This is what astonishes me so much:
How on earth is nobody else noticing these fatal problems in medical
research and mainstream media reporting? Why does this stuff just slip by?
And why, by God, do the readers of all these newspapers just swallow all
this information without a single skeptical thought?

This is what baffles me. I guess on the Planet of the Idiots, people just
don't think to question anything they read in the newspaper. The internet,
they're told, is where all the inaccurate information comes from. But
newspapers and magazines? They only report solid facts!

Facts like depression actually causes osteoporosis. Or that if you take
enough SSRI drugs, you'll reverse bone loss (even though all the women
taking those drugs have the lowest levels of bone density). Or how about
the
fact that ADHD is a "real" disease requiring treatment with amphetamine
stimulants? Or that sunlight will kill you?

There are all sorts of idiot "facts" promoted by the mainstream media
today.
What's truly hilarious in all this is that Big Pharma and the FDA claim
their pharmaceutical system of medicine is entirely "evidence based." You
heard that right: It's all based on rock-solid, scientifically proven
evidence.

And if you believe that, I've got a bridge to sell ya.

Related link.

http://www.newstarget.com/z022354.html

NewsTarget.com printable article
Originally published December 10 2007
Vitamin D deficiency accelerates aging in the elderly
by David Gutierrez

(NewsTarget) Insufficient intake of vitamin D may lead to decreased
physical
strength, increased muscle weakness and increased risk of disability in
older women and men, according to a new study published in the Journal of
Gerontology: Medical Sciences.

Because vitamin D deficiency is widespread, the researchers have suggested
that increasing vitamin D intake may help older adults decrease their risk
of disability and maintain better muscle strength and physical
performance.

Researchers measured the serum levels of 25-hydroxy-vitamin D for 976
adults
over the age of 64. They also took measures of grip strength -- which is a
good predictor of the risk of future disability -- and physical
performance.

Twenty-nine percent of the women and 14 percent of the men participating
were found to be vitamin D deficient, as measured by their blood levels.
Compared to the participants with normal vitamin D levels, these people
scored 5 to 10 percent lower on measures of grip strength and physical
performance. This correlation was found to be independent of other
factors,
including the participant's activity level, mental function, weight and
overall health.

Vitamin D is an essential nutrient that the body produces upon exposure to
sunlight -- as little as 15 to 30 minutes, depending on skin color,
latitude
and time of year. It is known to be essential for bone health, but recent
studies have suggested that it also plays an important role in protecting
against cancer, diabetes, tuberculosis and even the common cold.

The current recommended daily allowance for vitamin D, however, is based
upon the levels needed to merely maintain healthy bones -- a level that
many
researchers believe may be lower than that needed for other health
benefits.

According to researcher Denise K. Houston of the Wake Forest University of
Medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, "Higher amounts of vitamin D
may
be needed for the preservation of muscle strength and physical function as
well as other conditions such as cancer prevention."

Because of this, many scientists are now recommending a daily intake of
2000
IU, rather than the currently recommended 400 IU.